We live in an age once theorized in classic movies like Back to the Future and The Matrix.
What was once merely story is now reality. Cars are beginning to fly. “Thinking Machines” exist and are integrated into reality. Even now, as you read this, other machine eyes scan the words and compile them into answers for questions being asked by people in other parts of the world. They’re also scanning the works of art on my website, and the websites of other hardworking artists, assimilating and compiling them into A.I.-produced images.
That is a word (produced) we’ve not yet fully grappled with. Humanity has, however, segmented A.I. and its “services” into two primary categories: research and generative. Here, I’ll treat mostly with the latter category, as it is the issue I’m most questioned about as an artist and iconographer. Are the machines generative?
In short…no.
That question should be looked at in two parts: 1) Are the machines doing something? And 2) that word alone, “generative.”
In dealing with the first, I think it’s not so much a question of whether they are doing things or not, but more a question of why certain groups are so concerned with whether or not the machines are “doing” anything.
The claim now by the big tech industry is that the machines will take over the world and destroy humanity. “Catastrophe,” they claim, is nigh upon us. The ones creating the monster seem to be warning us about the monster. But why?
Could it be that there is a move in the industry to secure government regulation in an attempt to squeeze out the smaller businesses? Big tech companies will absorb the hit to their finances and move on, but small tech firms will inevitably get squeezed out. After all, “free markets aren’t free,” as the late Wendell Berry reminds us.
The issue here is not what the machines are doing, because they aren’t actually “doing” anything except following human instruction. Those who claim an A.I. catastrophe is dawning do so to further their own economic purposes, not in any attempt to actually aid the common man.
Let’s turn, then, to that word, “generative.” I often hear the word “generative” used as a term for the products brought forth by these A.I. tools. But is anything the machines produce actually generated? Again, the answer must be no.
To generate is to create, and to create, the creator must have a soul. There must be an interior well to draw from in order to create something. No machine can do such a thing, as it does not have a soul. A machine cannot look within itself to ask big questions, search for the answers, and then generate a work of art that attempts to make that unseen experience seeable.
This is the role of the artist, and no machine can replicate it. At best, the machines are “compilers.” They peer across the data, find information, and lump it together into a single image. The machines are compilative thieves, and for the sake of ease and saving a few dollars, we are allowing it. The machines create nothing; they are harvesters and compilers governed only by our willingness to “go with the flow.”
What, then, do we do in the ever-evolving age of the machine?
The path forward is simple, especially for artists.
For the artist reading this, pursue what St. Thomas Aquinas referred to as “magnanimity” (Summa, Question 129). This is simply put, the path of excellence for no other reason than the glory of God.
When we, as artists, pursue excellence of craft for the sake of excellence itself, we bring amazing art into the world. No matter how hard the machines and their programmers try, they will never compete with true human-crafted art.
The pursuit of excellence in our craft also helps solve the problem by increasing the good within the market. To eradicate bad art and bad ideas, you don’t boycott the bad; you produce more of the good. We need to flood the culture with exceptional, well-crafted, beautiful art!
Second, to our non-artist Catholic brothers and sisters, here is your path forward.
Find local artists and support them to whatever degree you are able. I hear time and again Christians railing against the culture, railing against bad art, railing against Hollywood, yet they themselves give zero support to the Christian art community.
To do this, find local Christian artists. They’re not as hard to find as you think. At the bare minimum, pray for them by name daily. Then ask the Lord how you can support them. Can you buy their work? Can you pay for a cup of coffee or two? Can you gather a group together, commission a piece of art, and give it to your priest or parish?
There are extraordinarily talented artists in almost every community. Find them and be their champions of support. The A.I. slop being produced will continue to do so if we don’t find ways to engage and encourage local artists.
Creating is one of the fundamental marks of being human. It is one of the ways in which we reflect the glory of God. To create is to be like the Father. Machines were not made in the image of God; we were.
In this rapidly evolving world, where machines and their makers strive to make us less and less human, I believe exceptional art-making is one of the methods by which we push back against the machines and continue to relegate them to the role of tool rather than tyrant.
If we want a better human experience, then we must participate in the utterly human activity of art-making and support those around us engaged in “out-creating” the machines.
The era of the machine can be short-lived, and the era of human creative flourishing can push the machines aside if we are willing to let the creative spirit flow through us and our communities.
